The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

September 15, 2010

Ted Turner had made it.

after many years of waiting, his reality of having a piece of his pie was finally closing in on him.




The touch of the door knob still felt as memorable today as it did when he opened the park for play in the mid 90s.


The reaction?

Would he he be met with hugs, or jeers. Only three people remained from the original roster, would he even be recognized. Surely, he... King of Turner, Prince of Old WCW, and Duke of Atlanta would be recognized...what the hell were we thinking.


What would Bobby say?

...

How Sweet it is!

Meanwhile Elsewhere inside the confines of Turner Field

Holman Keezel paced hsi office. A decision had to be made quickly. The day that he had been avoiding with anxiety and anger had finally approached.

Was Holman fearful for the reaction of the Powers that Be with the return of Ted Turner to the Atlanta Braves. The unholy return of a fallen star back to claim what was rightfully his? People had said this day would never happen in a million years...


Yet here it was today, September 15th, and Ted Turner was coming within the hour. The Powers that Be would not be happy in any light so yes... there was reason to be fearful.

But was Holman more upset that Ted had continued to overstep their agreement, knock down every suggestion that he had made to not only help himself, but to help Ted, and Frank Wren thoughout this situation.

Ted obviously didn't give a damn, and he was going to mess this all up.


But it was of utter concern that the players find out this news from him. Holman could not bare to even think of the repercussions of having Ted Turner show up in his clubhouse unannounced, and then... with pure irony announce what had went down.


A meeting, impromptu in nature had to be held.. and it had to be done as soon as possible.

But wait a minute, we got a game to be played vs. the New York Mets. for first place in the NL East. That's what this post is all about right?


Well yes, but clearly at this point... it doesn't make a damn difference who wins this game. There is critical business brewing off the field as well as on it
- Editor

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie



Whatever was said behind the closed doors of the Atlanta Braves clubhouse had a negative impact on our ogranization friends.


I mean damn, usually when you have these closed door, rally up the troops type meetings, good things, maybe even great things come from them. But in the case of Bobby Cox and our Atlanta Braves, the ballclub took the words not so well, and swooned for the middle two weeks of September losing that night 15-3. And would lose 5 of their next 6 thereafter.


Ciminey Guys!


Kris Medlen would stop the bleeding however in Washington, as he was able to help the Braves take 2 of 3 from the Nats. Atlanta would take that momentum into Philly and sweep the Phillies surprisingly, and take the first game of a home series vs. the Marlins.


With 7 games remaining in the season, the playoffs are in reach as the Braves hold a 2.5 game lead in the Wildcard over Arizona with a magic number of 5. But not so fast on that hope, we're only a single game back of Philadelphia in the NL East. The magic number in the division is at 6.


With only two of the seven games in my control we will need a little help, but I'm starting to feel confident in our chances of making the playoffs. 93 wins will get you in it looks like... and as of now we have

89

.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

Albert Pujols's Chase of the Triple Crown

With the season winding down, Albert Pujols has one thing in hand, and that's the N.L. MVP. And fankly he has played a season worthy of the award, although his St. Louis Cardinals could likely watch the playoffs like the rest of us at home on his couch if they do not break a 3 way tie in the NL Central within the next 7 games.

However there is still the matter of the triple crown, an elusive feat, less common than the triple play, hitting four homeruns in a single game, a 56 game hit streak, and nearly harder to do than hit .400 all season long.

56 Home Runs (1st)
.365 Batting Average (1st)
144 RBI's (2nd)

Jason Bay is the only person that holds an advantage over Albert, and that RBI lead that was at the beginning of this month was a comfortable 13 RBI's points higher is now just at 1. Albert Pujols has closed the gap to a single RBI. If things go his way during the next week. Albert Pujols would have made an improbable comeback in making him the NL's first triple crown winner in 73 years, and the most recent in MLB history since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski achieved the feat in 1967.

Why am I hyping the triple crown up so much?

Simply because many have tried, and thousands have failed to even be elgible for the Triple crown. It takes a true hitter of the game to have the power to drive the ball, and the skill to place the ball in play consistantly enough to be in the running for this.

And, to top it off... you have to be the best at both when the dust settles after 162 games.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

So it appears friends we have run into the worse case scenario on the final day of the season...


damn...

For some strange reason MLB the Show is in love with allowing multiple teams to play out their season to the point that no lead is safe till the final bell. Game 162 and possibly a 163rd if neccessary..


We are no different. And even more ironic the Cubs/Brewers/and Cards are deadlocked in the NL Central. the Al WEst is seperated b only a sigle game. And for the NL East which we are concerened it shakes out like this.

Philadelphia has clinched

By beating the Marlins Saturday night, they are in.

If Atlanta wins, we're in.

Easier said than done...

If New York wins and we lose the final game, we're out. The Mets fresh on a 8 game win streak would take the WildCard.

A damn 8 game win streak to end the season seems kinda cheesy, but I'll just say it's fitting that the Mets who held the NL East crown for 80% of the season, would have their chance to make the playoffs after a late season swoon. It's only faiir right?

If Atlanta Wins and Philadelphia loses the final game, we share the NL East division crown, but still go in as the Wild Card.

I can live with that... that scenario sends us out to Cali to play Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers.


So here's the stage:


One game... one chance... we could theoreticallly be in the playoffs with one great game... and in the same breath on the outside looking in with a terrible performance. And it would suck pretty bad to have had such an **** comeback shatter on the final day of the season.


But that's why we play the games.


Derek Lowe gets the start on the mound as he looks to close the door on this season vs. the Washington Nationals. First pitch is at 1:05 EST.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

Braves Clinch NL WildCard

I really don't know who we should thank for this ball game. But there was a pair of heros on the 162nd game of the season. Brian McCann went deep twice extending the lead to 7-0. But his two bombs may have been overshadowed by Derek Lowe going the distance, pitching a 2 shutout into the 9th inning. Lowe would end the day with 6 k's and four hits, as we beat the Nats 7 - 0 to close out the season and ensure us a trip to the post season.


Given how this season started with the terrible April we will take it.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

So before we pack our bags for the postseason, let's break it all out for how things shook out for the 2010 season.


NL MVP: Albert Pujols
.363 -- 58 HR -- 140 RBIS

Albert Pujols led the NL with videogame like numbers all summer long. However I almost hate that Albert came down to earth in the month of September and couldn't give us a Summer to "really" remember. Albert needed only 1 RBI to surpass Jason bay for the RBI lead and the Triple Crown. The last week of the season, Pujols only hit 5 additional RBi's and led his team to a trip to the golf courses.


AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez
.315 -- 56 HR -- 150 RBI

A-Rod, Baseball's most hated belovable hero. He put up a great season, was one of the
Yankees top hitters, and was the main reason the New York Yankees are the only team in the game of baseball with more than 100 wins. The Yankees grabbed the first seed in the playoffs and the best player on the best team should grab an award like this.


NL Cy Young:
Jeff Suppan
AL CY Young:
C.C. Sabathia


I will not recap either of these gentlemen basically due to the fact that IMO neither of them deserved their respective awards. The game just gave the Cy Young to the #1 Wins leader. Clearly not a true way to reward the best pitcher in the MLB. Bah to that. Moving on...

American League

1. New York Yankees host the Texas Rangers

It Should be Ugly... Nuff said, a 108 win Yankee team vs. the glad to be there Rangers just doesn't add up well to me.


2. Cleveland Hosts the Boston Red Sox

This is actually an intriguing matchup. The Red Sox were right behind the Yankees step for step and should come out of this with the W. However Cleveland has the look of a spoiler in my opinion. We'll see how that play outs.

National League

1. L.A. Dodgers hosts the Atlanta Braves

Ah yes the matchup we've all been waiting for. Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and the Dodgers host us for a playoff matchup that should go the full five games. They have incredible hitting, we have surprisingly sufficient pitching. I think it will be a great one!

2. Philadelphia hosts the Chicago Cubs

The final matchup of the 2010 post season features a quietly good Chicago Cubs team led by Lou Pinella heading into Philadelphia to play pretty much our arch rival. I forsee Chicago beating Philly before we even get a chance to.

MLB the Show is giving no love to the Philly pitching staff for actually quite some time so it will be interesting to see if they can get back to their early season form now that everyone is rested and back to 100%.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves

2010 National League Divisional Series

Game 1 Dodgers Stadium

MLB Scoreboard - Braves () at Dodgers ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves										0	5	0
Dodgers										11	15	1
WIN: Chad Billingsley LOSS: John Smoltz

OperationSports.com

A complete embarrassment as John Smoltz gets roughed up in the first game of the playoffs to the tune of 7 runs in the first five innings. We can only look to bounce back in the second day of play in L.A.

Game 2 Dodgers Stadium

MLB Scoreboard - Braves () at Dodgers ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves										5	16	0
Dodgers										1	6	0
WIN: Kenshin Kawakami LOSS: Hudoki Kuroda

OperationSports.com

We bounce back as Kawakami evens the series up with 7 strong innings. Omar Infante comes back into the lineup after battling a stomach flu the past week, and swapped places with Chipper Jones playing 3B, and Jones started at SS.

Game 3 Turner Field

MLB Scoreboard - Dodgers () at Braves ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dodgers										0	5	2
Braves										3	9	0
WIN: Derek Lowe LOSS: Clayton Kershaw

OperationSports.com

Arriving back home in Atlanta, Derek Lowe impressed the hometown fans. Lowe would go the distance pitching a complete game 5 hitter. After two slugfests in California, this was the first game in which strategy of lineup adjusting from both teams would play a role in the outcome.


Game 4 Turner Field

MLB Scoreboard - Dodgers () at Braves ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dodgers										3	8	2
Braves										7	12	0
WIN: Kris Medlen LOSS: Vicente Padilla

OperationSports.com

With one game to go, the Braves sent Kris Medlen to the mound, and the rookie pitcher if you can even call him a rookie at this point did not dissapoint. Medlen struck out 5, and only gave up 5 hits. The Dodgers benched Manny Ramirez for this game, but found clutch hitting from Matt Kemp to close the gap to 2 runs. However a 2 run shot in the 7th inning by Omar Infante sent Bobby Cox and the Atlanta Braves onto the next round.

Braves Win Series 3 - 1

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

First Round Recap

Atlanta vs. Los Angeles
In a series in which the fireworks exploded early for both teams, a series that looked to be offensive turned completely on it's heels as both pitching staffs fired up gems to make each game memorable and thrilling to play. It wasn't over till Omar Infante sent a 2-1 curveball over the leftfield wall before the Braves began to celebrate

Around the American League, the Yankees were upset by Cliff Lee, and listen to this, El Duke Orlando Hernandez and the Texas Rangers 3 games to 1. The Rangers will move on to play Cleveland who won a hard fought matchup vs. Boston, getting the win at Fenway Park. Should be a great thing seeing Cliff Lee heading to his old Tribal Grounds in Cleveland.

In the National League, the one team that has nagged us all season, the Philadelphia Phillies took every one of their 5 NLDS games to secure their ticket to the next round. Roy Halladay is set to take the mound vs. John Smoltz in game 1 in what looks to be a 7 game winner take all series starting in Philly.

Funny how things come full circle.


I really hate the Phillies, and now we have to take on the big 3 of Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels to get to the next round. We all remember how this whole franchise started, with Philadelphia hitting us upside the head by 10 runs or something like that. Now I have to play them for all the marbles.

Although the hitting is not there for us, Lee is batting 8th for crying out loud... we will give it the best shot we have. If we beat our arch nemesis once and for all, we will be where wanted to be all along.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

NLCS Game 1

MLB Scoreboard - Braves () at Phillies ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves										3	12	1
Phillies										7	13	0
WIN: Roy Halladay LOSS: John Smoltz

OperationSports.com

Roy Halladay and the Fightin's rough up the Braves in game 1. Although Heyward hit a 2 run jack in the 8th, this game was embarrasingly bad on the mound for us as the Phillies got every clutch hit and fought off every one of my good pitches, took balls for the great ones, and slammed the bad ones.


One thing frustrating is how you can get hit both targets, get a "perfect" pitch thrown without overthrowing, and it still drifts into the zone. At one point John Smoltz threw a cutter up and in, perfect, and it wound up floating into the middle of the plate which Palanco went on to hit for a triple.

That ain't right lol!

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie



Bobby wasn't too pleased by the Game 1 performance. The Braves had dug themselves into a similar hole in game 1 out in Los Angeles but with Oswalt and Hamels following Doc Halladay, it was time for another clubhouse meeting.

Bobby Cox
.... so get your head out of butts guys. This one ain't over just yet, but the future is uncertain after this season so if we going to make a run, we gotta do it now. I'm not sure how much longer I have, Chipper could be gone, Billy could be out. We all know the uncertainity with Mr. Turner coming back in the winter.

Let's do this now.

Derrek Lee it's a new series.

Johnnie, pick your head up, you'll get em' game 6. I've stuck with you this long, I ain't leaving you to the wolves (media)....

Let's pick it up and take game 2...

Game 2: Citizens Bank Park

MLB Scoreboard - Braves () at Phillies ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves										8	12	1
Phillies										2	5	0
WIN: Tommy Hanson LOSS: Roy Oswalt

OperationSports.com

Kenshin Kawakami gets hurt in the second inning after throwing 2 shutout innings and striking out 3. Oh noes! Disaster right? Well not exactly because conveniently sitting ont he bench we had two former starters in Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson. Taking Hanson because Jurrjens had to relieve Smoltz just yesterday, Hanson went out and carried the load successfully.

Roy Oswalt didn't make it past 4 innings as we sent him from the game early. And it was ovah when Brian McCann and Derrek Lee went deep with back to back jacks. Maybe Lee doesn't have to bat 8th after all.




Game 3: Turner Field

MLB Scoreboard - Phillies () at Braves ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Phillies										2	6	0
Braves										4	9	0
WIN: Derek Lowe LOSS: Cole Hamels SAVE: Biilly Wagner

OperationSports.com

As the above graphic shows, Derrek Lee is indeed back. After pretty much slumping the entire NLDS, he has come alive in this series hitting 3 HR's and 8 RBI's. It had gotten so bad he was the number 8 hitter, now I'm thinking we gotta get him back up to like 6 or 5 now.

It was a great game from Derek Lowe as he navigated in and out of trouble the whole night. This was a game we had to have. So after 3, the series lies 2 - 1 Braves in the advantage so far.

Oh by the way the Cleveland Indians have swept the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. Their first American League Pennant since 1997

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

John Smoltz Injures Ankle in Game 5

Have you ever noticed in this game how your team always gets the worse in game injuries?


I mean I'd be estatic if we went out to the field and Doc Halladay after pitching 4 outstanding innings suddenly starts pulling at his elbow and leaves with the infamous ""Elbow Brusitis" where HE not us... have to sit him for a few days.


But nope, it's always our Atlanta Braves.


This series has broke (pardon the pun) out in the following ways:


Game 2: Kenshin Kawakami leaves game in the 2nd injured pitching

Game 4: Kris Medlen leaves game in the 2nd injured pitching

Game 5: John Smoltz leaves game in the 4th, injured pitching

Really? 3 games I gotta go to the pen? Really? Let's dive into this next update shall we. Should be fun.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

Game 4: Turner Field

MLB Scoreboard - Phillies () at Braves ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Phillies										4	8	1
Braves										7	8	0
WIN: Michael Dunn LOSS: J.A. Happ SAVE: Billy Wagner

OperationSports.com

As you already know, we dealt with a little injury bug the next few games. Kris Medlen would be the first to go down, blowing his arm out in the 2nd inning in this one. Carlos Ruiz would take the "un warmed up" next pitcher deep for a 3 run shot.

But thanks to two Chipper Jones Homeruns the Braves would battle back from a 3-0 defecit and turn it into a 7-4 win.


Game 5: Turner Field

MLB Scoreboard - Phillies () at Braves ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Phillies										3	6	1
Braves										4	5	0
WIN: John Smoltz LOSS: Roy Halladay SAVE: Billy Wagner

OperationSports.com

The Phillies threw out Doc Halladay in this first elimination game, and the Doc did what he had to do striking out 4 and only allowing 2 hits through 6. John Smoltz would be the next Braves pitcher to go down spraining his ankle on a bang bang play at first. After going down 2 - 0 in this one, the Braves would tie the game up, and then a wacky array of events led to the walk off hit by a pitch.

1. Melky Cabrera hit by pitch. 2 runners on
2. Derrek Lee intentionally walked. Bases loaded
3. Chipper Jones hit by first pitch. Runner scores.

Best game of the series by far, and the Braves found a way to win it, closing this series out at 4 games to 1. The Atlanta Braves are advancing to the 2010 World Series!

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

The 2010 WORLD SERIES

Our opponent for the 2010 Fall Classic is the Cleveland Indians. A franchise that has been humbled in their past few trips to the final round. 15 years to the date of these two teams meeting in the '95 World Series which the Braves took to win their only championship of the 90s.


Here's the route the Indians took to winning the American League Pennant

The Indians went 93-69 this season. They actually finished a game behind us technically since we went 94-68. However thanks to Bud Selig, the Indians will be hosting this year's World Series because the AL won the All Star game.

Geez... it continues...


The Indians have not lost a home game all post season, winning 2 at home to Boston, before winning the deciding game 5 at Fenway.

Cleveland then proceeded to sweep Cliff Lee in his return back to Jacobs/Progressive Field. 4 quick and cool games, had the Indians sitting around waiting on the NL participant.



Kenshin Kawakami gets the ball in game 1 vs. David Huff. First pitch is at 7:05 from Cleveland, OH.

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

October 23, 2010
Swainsboro, GA
10:46 PM

... And that should do it, the Atlanta Braves are the National League Champions. Hellooooo World Series!

Frank Wren quickly shut the TV off and sat in silence.

Two, three, maybe even four minutes passed before Wren moved an inch. Had he not thrown the remote towards his vanity mirror shattering the glass into several shards. One might have thought he was frozen in time. After composing himself and sifting through the glass to grab the remote. Frank Wren turned the television on to see more of this repulsive news...

The Ride just keeps going Fans! The Braves are celebrating with Champagne and Caviar! Champagne and Caviar!!!

That was MY DAMN Team. My work.


Who got them Carl Crawford


Me


Who talked Bobby Cox into staying another year

Me

.....

Ted Turner thinks he going to ruin me?! Take all the damn credit for this World Series..?! Hell No...



Frank Wren stood up and walked through his house, and reached into the closet. Putting on a coat, and grabbing an orange box. Wren slammed the door and walked out of the house.


Suddenly our two way problem just turned triangular.

- Editor

[lilbiggio]

Re: The Ted Turner Memoirs: A Story of Vengence and Apple Pie

The 2010 World Series

Game1
Progressive Field, Cleveland OH

MLB Scoreboard - Braves () at Indians ()

,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Braves	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	9	1
Indians	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	5	12	1
WIN: Kerry Wood LOSS: Kenshin Kawakami

OperationSports.com

Derrek Lee started us off in the Fall Classic with a first inning two run jack over the rightfield wall. Looked like we were going to continue owning the CPU throughout this postseason, but then we went clueless at the plate and give the Indians credit they fought back on the basebpaths of their own.

Infante got hurt rather quickly on a diving play on defense so he's out for a while. The above picture is Martin Prado the guy battling him for PT coming in and making a great tag on a stolen base attempt.

The bullpen let us all down for the first time this postseason as we took a 4 - 3 lead into the 8th inning. Just two outs away from "Wagner-Time" Alfredo Aceves gave up the tying run, causing us to leave him in the game for the 9th, and then he gave up two singles, and a walk off double to Mike Redmond.


What in the hell that was a brutal two innings.


Indians keep their home winning streak alive, and we're down 0-1 for the third time this postseason.